hSupporting marriage

hSupporting marriage ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Demonstrators react during a speech at an anti-gay marriage rally in Annapolis, Md. Groups, including Defend Maryland Marriage and the Family Protection Lobby, turned out Thursday for a rally calling for a constitutional amendment to block same-sex marriage. Man confesses 8 killings PEORIA, Ill. -- Prosecutors said Thursday that a former concrete worker has confessed killing eight women -- dumping some along rural roads and burning the bodies of the others in a pit in his mother's back yard. The alleged confession by Larry Bright marks a significant breakthrough in a case that has rattled residents in the Peoria area since women's bodies began turning up along desolate roads in rural Illinois four years ago. Bright, 38, tried to plead guilty Thursday to the one slaying with which he has been charged, but Judge Albert Purham rejected the attempted plea and told him to consult an attorney. Purham appointed the public defender's office to represent him. More flu shots released ATLANTA -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released 4.4 million doses of flu vaccine Thursday and all but withdrew its remaining restrictions on who could receive a flu shot -- moves designed to ensure that remaining vaccine stocks were not wasted. The government had been gradually easing its vaccination restrictions as it became clear that a feared shortage of vaccine was becoming a surplus in much of the United States. The CDC restrictions had reserved shots for the elderly, the chronically ill, very young children and health care workers. The current batch of vaccine must be used before the end of the flu season, which typically ends in March. "The flu season is not over. It may not even have peaked," CDC Director Julie Gerberding said at a news conference.